Hot Coffee
by statefarmsnake
Summary: Contains Mordecai x Rigby yaoi. Rigby leaves the park and begins to work at the Coffee Shop. Mordecai misses Rigby greatly and tries every way to get him to come back.
1. Chapter 1

Hot Coffee

Chapter 1

Rigby was out in the middle of the park's field, picking up all of the scattered leaves. It was one of the many chores that he had to do under the request of his boss, Benson. Normally Rigby would be accompanied by Mordecai to help pick up the leaves, but Benson allowed Mordecai a single day off for his hard work on a recent party held by the park.

Rigby tediously picked up one leaf after another and lazily threw them into the trash can. Whenever he moved, he had to take the trash can with him, which was difficult since he was so short.

"Ugh…" Rigby groaned. "Why did Mordecai have to take his day-off on a day like this? Couldn't he have taken it when we were doing an easy job like running the snack stand?" Rigby threw another few leaves into the bin before collapsing onto the ground, rolling around in it in boredom. "But no… he has to go out and spend all of his time with his special girlfriend, Margaret."

Rigby rolled around in the grass until his head made contact with the black trash can. Rigby rubbed his head and again groaned with an "Ugh… why isn't stupid Mordecai here?"

"Because I'm on my day-off remember, dude?"

Rigby sat up and turned to his right. To his dismay, he saw that Mordecai was standing there with Margaret at his side. He sighed and stood up, wiping all of the grass that ended up in his fur. "I know that, but I just can't believe that you took your day-off today!"

Mordecai chuckled. "Come on, dude. You can pick up a few leaves without needing me to carry around the trash bin for you. Besides, today was the only day that Benson offered to give me a free day, so I wasn't really going to say no."

Margaret smiled. "Yeah, sorry Rigby if I'm stealing Mordecai from you for the whole day."

_And every day after that, _Rigby thought to himself. Rigby's eyes slightly flinched, but he was going to play nice with Margaret as long as Mordecai was around. "It's… okay, Margaret. Everyone deserves a break every once in a while."

"That's really mature of you to say, dude. Thanks for understanding. Maybe this will give you the incentive to work a bit harder so that we both can get a day-off."

"Yeah, sure," Rigby said under his breath.

"Alright, Rigby. We're going to be at the coffee shop for an hour or so." Mordecai pat Rigby on the shoulder before returning to Margaret. "When I get back, we'll break out some popcorn and watch an action-packed movie."

Rigby couldn't help but smile, knowing that Mordecai actually made an attempt to make him a priority over Margaret. "Sure, that sounds pretty great."

"Alright, see ya Rigby." Mordecai walked off with Margaret in the direction of the coffee shop.

Rigby sighed heavily as he began picking up the leaves again. He went through every inch of the park and picked up each and every leaf on the ground. In the end when he saw all of his progress, he actually pretty proud of himself that he could accomplish a simple task without Mordecai's encouragement.

He took the black bin with him back to the house and dropped it off near where it normally is. Rigby then climbed the stairs and entered the house before sitting down on the couch to watch some TV.

Though, it didn't last very long when Benson walked into the room and scowled at Rigby. "Rigby, what are you doing?"

"I'm watching TV. What does it look like I'm doing?"

Benson walked in front of the TV and put his hands on his hips. "You shouldn't be watching TV. You should be outside picking up the leaves."

Rigby jumped up from the couch, tired of Benson's assumptions. "Well, maybe if you looked outside, you'll see that I actually did pick up the leaves. Without Mordecai's help."

Benson rolled his eyes and went towards the front door. "I find that hard to believe."

As Benson left, Rigby grumbled and went back onto the couch, waiting for Benson to come back in and apologize to him for making assumptions. Rigby let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not always lazy," he mumbled to himself. "I can actually do stuff…"

Rigby began to slouch in the couch for a moment until Benson finally returned in the door again, calmer this time. He turned to Rigby and said, "I'm sorry I made an assumption, Rigby. There are a few leaves on the ground, but it's much better than it was before. Can you run the snack stand for the next few hours?"

Rigby turned to Benson. "What? No! I'm supposed to be waiting here for Mordecai so we can do stuff together. I think I deserve a break after picking up all of those leaves."

Benson sighed. "Mordecai just called a few minutes ago. He said he went with some girl to the mall and that he won't be back for another few hours. If you want, you can take a little break. But after that, I need you to get to the snack stand before the mid-afternoon rush comes."

Rigby frowned, surprised that Mordecai would actually flake on him to go to the mall, a place that he didn't even like to go. Rigby let out a light sigh, not loud enough for Benson to hear him. "Alright, I'm going to my room and taking my break. I'll go to the snack stand in ten minutes."

"Good," Benson simply said as he walked out of the room.

Rigby walked up the stairs and headed into his room. Like normal, the room was a bit messy. Mordecai's bed wasn't made and there was a bunch of junk all over Rigby's trampoline. Rigby managed to clear it mostly away so he could lay on it. He then used an old shirt as a small makeshift blanket and closed his eyes.

At this point, Rigby was no longer in the mood to do any work. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but Mordecai was the one who motivated him to get to work. In fact, Mordecai was the one who motivated Rigby to do a lot of things. Rigby covered his head with his actual blanket, hoping that it would cover up the thoughts. Obviously, it didn't.

Rigby continued to lay in bed for a while, not even caring that he wasn't at the snack bar to follow Benson's orders. A few more moments passed before Rigby heard his bedroom door open. Rigby immediately sat up, the blanket still covering his eyes, and said, "Mordecai?"

"No, this isn't Mordecai," a voice said. Rigby immediately recognized it as Benson's.

Rigby removed the blanket from his eyes and huffed. "Oh, it's just you. I thought finally Mordecai came back from his date."

"Hey, don't worry about Mordecai. He's on his day-off because he worked hard, something that you clearly don't understand." Benson began to get a bit aggravated. "Something that you do need to worry about is the snack stand. Pops is there right now by himself dealing with the long line that you were supposed to take care of two hours ago."

Even that shocked Rigby. He had no idea that he had been out for two hours, but that didn't change his mind about how he felt at the moment. "I'm sure Pops can handle it himself. He's done it before."

"I don't care if Pops can do it himself. I gave you an order and I want you to do it. Or you fired!"

Rigby jumped out of his trampoline. "You know, you keep saying that, and I don't why. That must be the thousandth time you threatened to fire me, but do you? Of course not!" Rigby scowled and pointed at Benson. "I don't think you have the balls to fire me."

Benson began to go a shade of red that was even deeper than it normally was. Rigby flinched at the sight. "Why don't you stay here and find out if I have the balls to fire you? You'll see what happens. So make your choice."

Rigby walked over to the door. "Oh yeah, I'm making my choice. I'm not going to the snack stand and you can't fire me. You know why? Because I quit."

Benson was about to go into a rage until he realized what Rigby said in its entirety. In fact, Benson began to cool down a lot when he realized that Rigby was quitting. He didn't even know what to say and didn't make any attempt to stop him as he walked out of the house, leaving everything behind.

Rigby didn't look back as he exited the house. He didn't take the think about what he had just left behind. He just knew that he needed to get away from all of the stress of everything. The best way to get over his anger was to go to one of his favorite hangout places: the Coffee Shop.

He entered the casual café and sat down with no intention of looking anyone in the eye. He simply sat there and collected his thoughts on what has happened in the past few hours. Rigby didn't even have the money with him to buy the coffee since he left it in his room.

"Hey, Rigby," a familiar voice said.

Rigby groaned on the inside and looked up to see Eileen standing there in her usual waitressing outfit with a coffee mug in her hand. He normally wasn't into seeing Eileen, but she was definitely a friendly face to see after losing his trust with Mordecai, Margaret, and Benson. "Hi, Eileen."

Eileen looked around the coffee shop and asked, "Hey, aren't you normally here with Mordecai? It's weird not seeing you together."

Rigby raised up his hand. "What? I thought you would know. Mordecai went with Margaret to the mall."

Eileen gave Rigby a confused look. "What are you talking about? Margaret went back to work three hours ago. She just went home."

_What the H is Mordecai doing, then?_ Rigby thought._ He doesn't go to malls! Especially by himself! _Rigby looked at Eileen and said with a calmer voice than expected, "Forget I said anything then. Mordecai is old news, anyways."

Eileen sat down across from Rigby and said, "It sounds like you two got into a fight."

Rigby shook his head. "It's a little more personal than that. The bottom line is that I have no job, no place to live, and as of now, no best friend."

Eileen let out a small gasp. "Benson fired you!"

Rigby shook his head. "No, I quit. I was sick of Benson bossing me around all the time, and I was getting sick of Mordecai ditching me all of the time to hang out with Margaret."

Eileen nodded. "I know how you feel. Margaret doesn't hang out with me much, either. Not that she hung out with me much before."

Rigby chuckled. "At least that's one thing we have in common."

Eileen tilted her head to the side a bit and asked, "So what are you going to do? Where are you going to stay tonight?"

Rigby rested his head on his hand and said, "Maybe I can find a nice cardboard box in an alleyway until I can figure something out."

"What! You can't do that!"

"Well, what do you think I should do? It's not like anyone else would take me in."

Eileen thought for a moment and then pointed to herself. "I have a couch in my apartment. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but you can stay on it… you know, if you want to."

Rigby looked away and frowned. He didn't want to seem like a desperate reject who lives on someone else's couch. Especially if that someone is Eileen and is the person who has a crush on her. Although Rigby was more comfortable with her, he certainly didn't have any affections with her. "Really? I don't want to be a burden or anything."

"No, no, no. It's not a burden at all! I can really use the company anyways."

Rigby couldn't help but smile at the gesture. "Alright, thanks Eileen. That's probably one of the nicer things that someone has done for me in the past few days."

Eileen smiled as well. "Okay! We can walk to my apartment together. I get off work in thirty minutes. Do you mind waiting here until then?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Great!" Eileen then went off, somewhat excited with the change of events.


	2. Chapter 2

Hot Coffee

Chapter 2

After some time, Eileen finally got off of work and approached Rigby. "Are you ready to go?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, I am. Can we… swing by the park? It's not exactly the place I want to be right now, but I have to get my stuff. I left my wallet and everything there."

Eileen smiled. "Sure, let's go."

Rigby and Eileen walked out of the Coffee Shop and headed towards the park. Most of their walk was in silence, even though made a constant effort to strike up a conversation with Rigby. Rigby had too much on his mind to respond.

They eventually made it back to the park's widespread grounds. Rigby frowned at the thoughts of being there and was sluggish as they each approached the house.

Eileen looked over at Rigby when she noticed the slow pace. She figured what was going on in Rigby's head and said, "You know, we can come back at another time. Or I can probably just go in and get your stuff for you."

Rigby sighed, not wanting to burden Eileen with getting his stuff for him. He especially didn't want to seem weak-minded for not being able to get his stuff by himself. "No, Eileen. It was my choice to make myself look dumb and quit. I should probably do the walk of shame up to my room and get my stuff myself."

Eileen frowned and nodded. "Alright, just let me know if you ever change your mind. I won't mind."

Rigby nodded, acknowledging Eileen's generous offer. They finally made it to the front steps of Rigby's old residence. "I won't be long." Rigby went up the few steps and entered the door as if he still lived there.

Benson and Pops were downstairs on the living room couch. They watched as Rigby stepped in through the door and head upstairs. Benson was prepared to say something, but he figured what Rigby was going to do, so he just left him alone.

Rigby opened the bedroom door, afraid what he was going to see. Of course, as he entered the old room, he saw Mordecai with a depressed look on his face. Though, with one sight of Rigby, Mordecai stood up and greeted him.

"Dude, are you okay? Benson told me that you quit! Is he telling the truth or is he just trying to cover the fact that he actually fired you?"

Rigby shook his head. He wanted to tell Mordecai the honest truth and be on his merry way with his stuff, but he found it harder than he thought. He wanted to be like the epic people in the movies, but when he tried to 'read his lines,' he simply froze.

Instead, a couple of tears began to well up in Rigby's eyes as his mouth opened to say something. "No, I quit," Rigby said, his mouth quivering ever so slightly. He sucked up his tears and continued, "I didn't like how I was being treated here, so I decided to just ditch it all."

Mordecai groaned. "Ugh, this IS about Benson. I've been noticing that he's been treating you like crap lately. Don't worry, dude. I've got your back. I'm going to march downstairs and I'm going to quit, too."

Rigby ran over to the door and yelled, "No, you can't do that!"

"And why not?"

"Because, Mordecai. You need a job and a place to stay. It's a rough world out there, and I'm the one who decided to quit out on something like this. Don't make the same mistake that I did."

Mordecai blankly stared at Rigby. "But… we can get you back in. I can talk to Benson and we can get him to hire you again. I promise."

Rigby shook his head. "Nah, I'm done here. This is the last place I want to be right now."

Mordecai frowned, legitimately upset. "Well… where are you going to stay? Don't tell me that you're going to live on the streets until you come up with the money to find your own place."

"Eileen offered me a place to stay."

"Oh… so you and Eileen have a thing now? Is she the reason why you left?"

Rigby scowled at Mordecai. "What? No! That's the craziest thing I have ever heard you say. Why would you ever think that?"

Mordecai lifted his hands into the air. "I don't know. Maybe because we're pals and you would normally tell me these things. Now… I have to come back to the house, find out that you quit, and that you're staying with a girl that you don't even like? That's not like you, and you know it!"

"Well, maybe I'm different now!" Rigby yelled angrily. "Not that you would know. You're always out doing stuff with Margaret and you've clearly all about our friendship."

Mordecai left his mouth agape. "Oh… that's what this is about."

Rigby calmed down a bit. "What do you mean 'that's what this is about?'"

"You're mad that I haven't been hanging out with you as much. You took your anger out on Benson and you just quit."

Rigby shook his head and headed for the bedroom door. "I don't want to deal with this right now, Mordecai."

Right before Rigby left, Mordecai said, "Wait, Rigby. Before you go, can I at least give you something?"

Rigby turned around and faced Mordecai. The first thing he noticed was the desperate look on his face. He knew that Mordecai didn't want him to leave, but has come terms with it. Mordecai then looked down to see that Mordecai was holding a moderately-sized brown cardboard box. He approached Mordecai and asked, "What is it?"

"It's… a surprise. Can you just promise me that you won't open it until tomorrow?"

Rigby grabbed the package and instinctively gave it a shake to see what it could possibly be. He looked back up to Mordecai and said, "Thanks. I guess… I guess I'll see you around."

Mordecai nodded. "Yeah. I know where Eileen lives, so it's not like we're going to be living very far from each other anyways. Maybe we can go to the Coffee House together tomorrow."

Rigby nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I think I'd like that." Rigby went to the door and turned back to Mordecai. "Goodbye, Mordecai. Maybe now that my laziness isn't dragging your work down, you'll probably actually get noticed."

"Heh… yeah." A humorous joke brought Mordecai's mood down even further, but he didn't want to show it to Rigby.

Rigby then walked out of the room, and eventually, the house. Eileen was waiting outside for him.

"You were in there for kind of a long time," Eileen said caringly. "Did everything go okay?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah. I guess I got the chance to say goodbye to everybody before I completely left."

Eileen nodded. "That's good. Are you ready to go?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

Eileen led the way out of the park and went a few blocks down the road. She entered an area that was filled with several different apartment complexes. She climbed a few of the stairs and Rigby followed shortly behind her. Eileen reached into her uniform pocket and grabbed a key ring. The few rings jingled together before Eileen chose one and put it into the lock.

She opened the door and led Rigby before closing it again. She turned on the lights and turned to Rigby. "Well… here we are. Uh… I don't know when you generally sleep, but I can make up the couch now so that it's sleep-able."

Rigby shook his head. "No, don't worry too much about it. I normally sleep on a trampoline, using clothes as a blanket. The couch by itself will be the best night's sleep I've had in years."

Eileen smiled, glad that she could do something right. "Oh, okay. Then I guess I'll make sure you get a blanket before you go to bed so that you don't get cold."

"Sounds good," Rigby said casually.

Eileen looked at the floor shyly for a moment before looking back up at Rigby. "Well… I'm going to change out of my uniform now. Afterwards, would you like to get something to eat?"

Rigby was about to say no, but his stomach began to rumble. Rigby smirked softly and said, "Yeah, I guess I'm a little hungry."

Eileen nodded. "Alright. I'll be right out then."

Rigby turned away from Eileen as she walked over to her room and closed the door. He set the box that Mordecai gave him onto a nearby table. He eyed it for a moment and wondered desperately what could be inside. Rigby shook it one last time before leaving it alone.

Rigby groaned, wondering why Mordecai asked him to wait until tomorrow. He decided to ignore it and distracted himself by looking around Eileen's apartment. It was a small place, but it could've easily fit three to four people. There were only a few pictures hanging on the wall with just Eileen smiling in the center. There was a small TV on a mini-table in the corner of the room.

He entered the kitchen area and was surprised to see that it was spotless. It almost looked like it was never used. He entered and looked at the white tile countertops and wooden cabinets. He grazed his hand against the tile before looking up at the wall to see a mantle attached to it. It contained a few more pictures.

Most of the pictures were like the ones in the living room, but there was one that stood out to Rigby the most. Unlike the others, there was another mole standing next to Eileen. And he was kissing her on the cheek.

"Hey Rigby. What are you looking at?"

Rigby turned around to see Eileen back in her street clothes. He looked back at the picture. "Oh, uh… I'm just looking at your pictures." Rigby pointed to the one with the other mole. "Is this your brother or something?"

Eileen lowered her head, but she tried to keep a smile plastered on her face. "Uh, no… that's not my brother. That's my ex-boyfriend, Henry."

Rigby gave Eileen a confused look. "Ex-boyfriend? I didn't know you had a boyfriend before."

Eileen shook her head. "I don't really tell anyone. He broke up with me three years ago."

"Oh…" Rigby looked at the picture again. "I wouldn't be asking if he didn't remind me of someone. He looks so familiar."

"He… goes to the Coffee Shop almost every day. You've probably seen him a few times while you and Mordecai were there."

Rigby was about to say something else when his mind realized something. Eileen's boyfriend broke up with her, and yet he still comes and visits the Coffee Shop every day. And they never talk.

"Man… that's rough," Rigby whispered to himself. "I'm sorry, I brought it up."

Eileen shook her head. "No, don't worry too much about it. I'm passed it." Eileen opened up the fridge and grabbed a plate that was filled with sandwiches. "I recently went to my younger cousin's birthday party and my aunt forced me to bring all of these sandwiches. This is all I have been eating for the past four days."

"Seriously, I would go crazy if I ate the same thing over and over again." Rigby took a look at the sandwiches and pointed to one of them. "Does that one have bacon on it?"

Eileen nodded. "Yeah, but be warned. My aunt makes the bacon homemade, so it's not exactly traditional."

Rigby chuckled. "I've eaten everything, Eileen. A bit of spoiled homemade bacon isn't going to stop me from enjoying these sandwiches." Rigby grabbed and took a large bite out of it.

Eileen watched as Rigby chewed through the sandwich. She was impressed that a little guy like Rigby could actually eat so much. "So… do you like it?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah. It's a bit too salty for my taste, but it's fine." Rigby took a bite before staring at Eileen. "Aren't you going to eat, too?"

Eileen shook her head. "No, I ate a little bit before we left, so I'm not really hungry. Besides, I don't like eating right before bed. Gives me weird dreams."

Rigby chuckled before eating the rest of the sandwich. He swallowed the remains and said, "I don't mind too much. If I'm going to have a dream, it better be exciting."

Eileen giggled. "Heh, yeah." Eileen rubbed the back of your neck. "Uh… while you eat, I'm going to get you that blanket and probably go to bed. Today has been a long day at work."

Rigby nodded. "Thanks, and yeah, today has been longer than it should have been."

Eileen left the room and came back in after a couple minutes with a couple of blankets in her hand. She handed them to Rigby and said, "These should keep you warm tonight."

"Thanks, Eileen. I really do appreciate it that you're letting me stay here tonight."

"Of course. Well… good night."

"Good night." Eileen left the room, which allowed Rigby to do what he pleased until he went to bed. He went back to looking at the picture of Eileen and Henry and frowned.

"What kind of soulless creature breaks up with a girl, then comes to see her almost every day at her job without even talking to her?" Rigby let that thought sink in before turning off the lights and going to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Hot Coffee

Chapter 3

The next morning, Rigby woke up earlier than he normally did. It started with a bit of a heart attack because he didn't know where he was at first, but he had to remind himself that he was staying at Eileen's place.

Rigby rubbed his eyes and lowered some of the hairs that were sticking up on his back. He scratched his head one last time before sitting up from Eileen's couch. He noticed that he no longer had an aching back nor a foggy head. "Man… that was the best sleep I've had in a year," Rigby said to himself. "I should've just kicked Mordecai off of that bed when I had the chance and had him sleep on the trampoline."

"I'm glad you liked it," someone said suddenly.

Rigby gasped heavily as he took a few steps back. He knew it was just Eileen, but he found it kind of creepy that she just so happened to be there when he woke up.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Eileen said innocently. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just wanted to say good morning. I've been living alone for awhile, so I never really had the chance to do it with anyone. So… good morning!"

Rigby couldn't help but chuckle at Eileen's slight desperation. "Okay… good morning." Rigby rubbed his eyes one last time and yawned before approaching Eileen. "I won't be in your hair for too long, though. I'm going to find myself a job today, and I'll get enough money for a low-class apartment rent."

Eileen followed Rigby into the kitchen. "Well… you don't have to leave too quickly, Rigby. You can stay as long as you like." Eileen poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip of it before saying, "Also, I have some really good news for you."

Rigby gave a confused look at Eileen, wondering what she could perceive as 'good news'. "What is it?"

"My manager called me last night a little bit after I went to bed in order to let me know that I don't have to go into work until noon today. I mentioned to him that you didn't have a job and that you were looking for one. He told me that you should come into work with me and do an interview!"

Rigby was shocked that a job would be thrown at him so quickly, and he was grateful that Eileen would actually think of him. He was about to say yes, but then he realized that there was an obvious issue with this situation. Rigby frowned and shook his head. "I don't know if I'll be able to do it, Eileen."

"What?" Eileen asked, shocked. "Of course you can! It's really easy. All you have to do is pour other people's coffee. It's no big deal."

Rigby shook his head again. "No, that's not the problem. The problem is that Mordecai goes to the Coffee Shop and that his "girlfriend" works there. I basically just walked out on him and… I don't think I will be able to see him for a little while."

"That's crazy, Rigby," Eileen said. "Mordecai is your friend still, isn't he?"

"Well, yeah. But don't you think it'll be a little awkward to see him after the little fight that we had." Rigby rubbed his head due to his conflicted feelings. "I wouldn't be surprised if he hates me right now."

"Mordecai doesn't hate you. He knows that you left the park for a reason." Eileen tried to place a hand on Rigby's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. She sighed and said, "If you get the job and Mordecai comes into the coffee shop, I'll take over and you can hide in the kitchen. You know… if you want."

"Thanks, Eileen," Rigby said with a smile. "You know… we don't really hang out that much. I never really realized how friendly you can be to people."

"Well, you've been nice to me this whole time," Eileen lied, failing to admit that Rigby had been poor to her. "I just wanted to return the favor."

Rigby frowned, knowing that Eileen was lying in order to save his feelings. He looked around the kitchen for a moment before putting his attention back on Eileen. "Thanks. So… I guess we have some time to kill before we have to go to work. What do you normally do on your free time this early in the morning?"

"Nothing much, really," Eileen said simply. "I'll watch a bit of TV, read a book, or maybe go on a walk if I'm in the mood. I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Rigby shrugged. "I guess watching a little bit of TV won't hurt. It'll help me to get my mind off of things,"

Eileen smiled and nodded. "Okay, that sounds good."

Rigby and Eileen watched various TV shows for the next few hours until noon rolled around. Eileen changed into her uniform and the two of them left for the Coffee Shop. As soon as Rigby entered, he could see that Margaret was cleaning off some of the tables. Otherwise, the place was completely empty.

Margaret heard the door open and turned around. "Oh hey Eileen. Today's been a pretty light day, so I guess you can come and chill in the back until someone shows up."

"Okay, Margaret," Eileen said as she went to the back of the counter and entered the kitchen.

Rigby followed slowly behind her, waiting for instructions. Though he didn't get too far until Margaret stopped him. "Mordecai told me what happened to you last night. It sucks that you're out of a job and a home and everything."

Rigby was in no mood to deal with Margaret at the moment, no matter what her intentions were. However, he didn't want to seem hostile, especially if he was going to be potentially working with her soon. "I think I'll be fine for now. Eileen offered me a place to stay and I'm doing an interview so I can get a job here."

"Oh, wow! That sounds great, Rigby," Margaret said excitedly. Rigby was surprised that she reacted that way. "I guess you're really good about getting back on your feet. Only took a night to do all of that."

"Well, I owe it all to Eileen now."

"Yeah, Eileen is a really nice person. It doesn't surprise me that she helped you out." She looked at the door and saw that a person had just walked in. "Well, I have to get back to work. I hope the interview goes well for you Rigby."

Rigby nodded, giving Margaret a fake smile. Rigby knew that Margaret was simply being nice and only meant the best towards Rigby, but she seemed to be the root of his hatred towards Mordecai, and he hated her for it.

Rigby headed to the back of the Coffee Shop and found Eileen to a taller man in a clean-cut suit. Eileen turned around to look at Rigby and said, "This is Rigby, sir. He's responsible and should be a good candidate for the job."

The man stepped forward and shook Rigby's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Rigby. Eileen told me that you just lost your job over at the local park and that you were looking for a new one."

"Yes, sir. I'm willing to really to do anything at this point. I used to be pretty lazy, but now I'm in a bind and I need to be able to kind of provide for myself."

"Those seem like a heavy set of morals," the man said in a deep voice. "This interview process isn't too extensive. Unlike many businesses, we don't like to torture our employees with stressful interviews. We simply want to see if you can be friendly with the customers and efficient with their orders. Do you think you can that for me, Rigby?"

Rigby nodded rapidly, a smile creeping up on his face. "Yeah, I can."

"Good. Well, we'll start you on a test run today. Eileen here will show you how we do things around here and you can even serve a few customers of your own. If you prove to be a good employee, you can stay and we'll start paying you by the hour starting tomorrow."

"Really?! That's great!"

"I like your enthusiasm, Rigby. I think you'll make a good addition to our team." The manager walked off and entered his office, leaving Rigby and Eileen to talk.

"Wow! See? He likes you!" Eileen said with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, and I like him, too. I don't even exactly work for him yet, and he's the nicest boss I've ever had so far."

"Aww… you can't really think of Benson as a terrible boss, can you? He only wanted you and Mordecai to be the best workers you could be."

Rigby nodded, sighing. "Yeah… I know. I'm in this situation because I slacked off one too many times, not because of Benson. He could've been nicer, though. He could've been a bit cooler to me and Mordecai without being so bossy."

Eileen shrugged. "I don't know. I never worked for him, so I guess I can't really say."

Rigby nodded and looked around the kitchen. He finally got his head back into what was actually going on. "Let's just… forget about Benson for now. He's not my boss anymore and I don't want to really think about him right now."

Eileen nodded, her smile fading. "Yeah, I understand. Why don't I start training you and you can start serving a few customers."

Rigby nodded. "That sounds good."

For the next hour, Eileen taught Rigby the basics of how to run the Coffee Shop. She told him some procedures to make some of the simpler coffees and some of the tricks of the trade that got her to be so successful with the job. Rigby was becoming a bit tired, not used to consuming this much information in such a short time. Though, he was appreciative of the job and knew that he would be back on his feet in no time.

After a good hour of amateur training, Rigby and Eileen reconvened in the kitchen. "You seem to be getting the hang of it, Rigby."

"It doesn't seem too hard to figure out. Just brew up some killer coffee and serve and interact with the customers. It was like I was born to do this job."

Eileen smiled, liking that Rigby was talking to her like he would with Mordecai. "Your enthusiasm is going to get you far, Rigby," she said, hiding her very slight blush.

"Great!"

"So… why don't you run the cash register for a little bit? I can give you some coffee to hand out to people so you get practice on that too."

Rigby nodded. "Okay, sounds easy enough." Rigby was about to walk off towards the register when he heard a voice behind him.

"Oh, hey Rigby," Margaret said. "Are you going to be working on the cash register?"

Rigby turned around and nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, that's great! I'm sure you'll do a good job. You'll probably be able to serve Mordecai, too!"

Rigby's heart jumped for a second. "Wait, Mordecai is coming? How would you know?"

"Well, you two seem to have a pretty good routine," Margaret said. "Don't you guys come around this time every day?"

Rigby's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, I forgot," Rigby said under his breath.

Eileen looked over at Rigby with a frown and said, "Hey Rigby. Just remember that you can hide in the back and I can serve Mordecai for you. You know… if you're feeling uncomfortable about it."

Rigby shook his head. "No… Mordecai is my best friend, and hiding from him would just be stupid."

Eileen nodded. "Okay. I'll be in the kitchen if you ever change your mind."

Rigby smiled. "Thanks." The three of them dispersed and Rigby went to the cash register. He served a few customers, but all-in-all, service seemed to be pretty chill compared to most days. He was glad for it, though. Especially since his mind was occupied by thoughts of Mordecai and whether or not he was going to show up that day.

After a good hour of hopping onto the register, Rigby was about to give up home until he saw a pair of tall, skinny talons hit the concrete stairs outside of the Coffee Shop. Rigby held in his excitement a bit when he saw familiar blue feathers come into view.

Mordecai opened the door of the coffee shop and stepped in. He would normally see Eileen or Margaret at the cash register and wave and say hi. But when he saw Rigby standing there in the general uniform, his mouth lay agape. "Rigby?" His pace quickened as he approached the cash register. "What are you doing here? Why are you in that uniform?"

"Eileen offered me a job here," Rigby said, saying it as if nothing had happened between him and Mordecai.

"Seriously?" Mordecai said quickly. "Dude, you aren't even away from work for one day before you find another job… Do you even like it here?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, it's nice here. The boss is way better than Benson will ever be, and Eileen will appreciates being around me."

Mordecai frowned. "But… dude. I appreciate being around you, too."

"And that's cool, dude," Rigby said in a relaxed tone. "But we aren't going to be able to hang out as much, especially since we have conflicting jobs and you have a girlfriend, Margaret."

"What? Margaret's not my girlfriend, dude! How many times do I have to say it to make you believe me?"

"A lot!" Rigby said with a slightly aggravated tone.

Mordecai sighed roughly. "Fine, I did ignore you for the past week and I guess I deserve this." Mordecai looked to the ground before looking back up at Rigby. "Well… did you at least open the package I gave you?"

Rigby eye's opened a tad bit wider than normal, but it wasn't entirely noticeable. "Oh, sorry dude. I forgot about that." Rigby went straight faced for a second before saying, "Can you at least tell me what it's for now that it's today?"

Mordecai chuckled. "I actually didn't think you would forget, but you did!"

Rigby raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll just have to open the package to find out, dude."

"Oh… well I'll do it as soon as I get home tonight. I'll let you know what I think of it tomorrow if you come by the coffee shop."

"Okay, cool."

Rigby nodded, bringing the two of them in an awkward silence. He then realized what he was actually doing there. "Oh, well… now I'm on the other side of this. Can I take your order or do you want the usual?"

Mordecai chuckled again. "I guess it's pretty cool to have a friend that knows your order." Mordecai handed him the usual amount of money and Rigby placed it in the cash register.

"One coffee coming right up, then."

Mordecai stuck around for a little bit to drink his coffee, and he and Rigby were able to chat. They talked about general things and everything seemed to be generally fine between the two of them. Rigby was still fairly upset with Mordecai and Mordecai knew it, but they managed to look past it for that short time.

Afterwards, Mordecai had to return to the park and Rigby had to return to work so that he could impress his new boss instead of slacking off on the job.

Rigby went up to Eileen and said, "So… what now? It doesn't like there's much activity right now."

Eileen nodded. "Yeah, that happens a lot. My boss generally lets me leave around this time today. In fact, there he is now."

Rigby turned around to see the tall manager walking towards them. He stepped in front of them and stopped. "Good work, you two. There seems to be a bit of a lull in the coffee shop right now, so why don't you take the rest of the day off Eileen."

Eileen smiled and said, "Thank you, sir."

The manager turned to Rigby and said, "As for you Rigby, I've been observing and you seem to adapting well to the work life here. You listen to Eileen, you do the orders, and you seem to be okay with the customers."

"So do I get the job," Rigby asked with a bright look on his face.

"I don't see why not. Are you okay with having similar hours as Eileen?"

"That's great!" Rigby said with a sense of enthusiasm. He wasn't used to it, so he died down his excitement a bit so that he seemed a bit more chill. "I mean… that's fine."

He chuckled. "Alright. I'll see the both of you tomorrow morning, then." He walked away, leaving Rigby and Eileen on their own.

Eileen faced Rigby and said, "Congratulations, Rigby! I knew you would get the job."

Rigby nodded. "Thanks. I feel pretty good right now."

"You should feel good, Rigby. Why don't we head on home and we can celebrate with some cold sandwiches?"

Rigby chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds good."

It didn't take long for the both of them to return to Eileen's apartment, especially since it was very close to the coffee shop. They entered and Eileen threw her keys into one of key plates.

"You know… I could toast your sandwich if you want. You could stay in here watch some TV or something."

Rigby thought for a second and nodded. "Yeah, a toasted sandwich sounds good."

"Okay, I'll be right back then. It shouldn't take too long."

Eileen entered the kitchen and Rigby jumped onto the couch. Sitting down felt very good for him since he was on his feet for almost the whole day. He reached for the remote and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels to find a show that he liked. He ended up stopping at an episode of Adventure Time. Rigby enjoyed the random adult-like humor.

He continued to slouch on the couch, allowing himself to be lazy for once. His gaze constantly shifted from the TV to the rest of the room. Eventually, his eyes fell on the cardboard box that Mordecai had given him.

He stood up and grabbed the box from the coffee table. He gave it one last shake before deciding to tear at the tape that was binding the flaps of the box together. After a little bit of trying at it, he finally was able to get it open.

Rigby reached in to see what the contents were and ended up pulling out an envelope first. He wondered what Mordecai could've given him and why he gave it to him, so he tore open the envelope and took out the piece of paper on inside. The writing on it was poor, but Rigby managed to read just fine.

Hey Rigby,

I wanted to wish you a happy birthday, dude, and give you a present. It's nothing special, but I thought it would be cool if we hung this up in our room or something.

- Mordecai

Rigby gasped for a second and realized that he had completely forgotten his birthday was that day. It wasn't exactly something the type of thing that he would keep track of. He quickly fished through the box to find his birthday gift. He clutched onto a wooden frame and pulled it out. What he ended up finding made him both smile and frown at the same time.

It was a double picture frame. The photo on the left was of Rigby and Mordecai when they first met and the photo on the right was of them with Benson and Pops as they got the job at the park. Those were the two most memorable moments of Rigby's life and they were now in his palms.


	4. Chapter 4

Hot Coffee

Chapter 4

Eileen entered the room shortly after Rigby opened the box. She saw the picture frame in his hand and asked, "What's that? Is that the package that Mordecai gave you last night?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, that's right. This is a… it's a picture frame with photos of when we met and when we got the job at the park."

Eileen smiled brightly. "Oh! That's really sweet of Mordecai to do something like that for you. What's the occasion? That doesn't sound like something he would just give you out of the blue."

Rigby nodded. "It's for my birthday, which is today."

Eileen frowned and sat next to Rigby, trying to get a glimpse of the picture frame in his lap. "Your birthday? Why didn't you tell me about it? We could've celebrated or something."

Rigby shook his head, restricting himself from doing many movements in his state. "My little brother, Don, used to upstage me on my birthdays when we were kids, so I stopped caring about my birthday and refuse to have a party. Don't take it personally; I don't tell anyone about it. Mordecai is pretty much the only one who knows and cares at this point."

"I see… well, I'm sorry about that. You probably want to talk about it," Eileen said, hoping that Rigby would want to open up to her.

Rigby looked up at Eileen, almost looking like he was scowling at her. "No, I'd rather not." Rigby took the picture frame, stood up, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Eileen asked.

"I want to talk to Mordecai right now. I know it's late at night, but I just… Forget it. I'll be back in an hour." Rigby stepped out of the apartment before Eileen could even form a response for him.

He walked all the way back to the park yet another time. Just being there seemed to be kind of nostalgic for him, even though he had just quit the night before. The main reason was because he was remembering all of the things he gave up. His experiences with Benson, Pops, Mordecai, and Skips. Even his experiences with Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost seemed pretty good at that moment.

Rigby approached the door and thought whether or not to knock or just step inside. He shook his head of the thoughts and simply knocked, knowing that he didn't live there anymore. Rigby waited a few moments until the door finally opened, revealing Benson on the other side.

"Rigby?" Benson said solemnly, much to Rigby's surprise. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"

Rigby nodded. "I just… wanted to talk to Mordecai for a little bit. I know that I brutally quit and you shouldn't let me in, but…"

"No, no," Benson said quickly, cutting Rigby off. "I was hoping you could come over and talk to Mordecai. I was actually planning on calling you."

Rigby gave Benson a confused look. "Why would you call me to talk to Mordecai? I thought you would only want to yell at me whenever you saw my face."

"Look, I don't want to get into the exact details, but Mordecai was not himself today. He did the work and he actually did the work pretty well, but he wouldn't really talk to any of us. The most we got out of him was just a few words at a time. Mostly related to work."

"What?" Rigby asked sincerely, not knowing that Benson actually cared whether or not Mordecai talked to him, regardless if the work got done.

"He clearly misses you, Rigby. It's only been one day and he's already acting weirdly. Just… talk to him."

Rigby nodded. "Uh… thanks, Benson." Rigby stepped into the house and walked up the stairs slowly, each step becoming a bit more difficult than the next. Once he got to the top, he headed towards his old bedroom and knocked on the door a few times.

He waited for a few moments until he heard some fidgeting; Rigby assumed it was Mordecai coming out of his creaky bed. "Come in," Mordecai said.

Rigby twisted the knob and stepped inside of the room. "Hey, Mordecai," Rigby said morbidly.

Mordecai gave a notable smile and said louder than he wanted to, "Rigby!" He restrained himself a bit and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Rigby sat down on the bed next to Mordecai and said, "I opened your gift as soon as I got back from the Coffee Shop."

Mordecai eyes widened a bit and he opened his mouth to say something, but he ended up closing it just as quickly. He thought for a moment and then finally said, "What did you think?"

"Well, first off, I'd like to congratulate you on remembering my birthday even though I forgot myself," Rigby said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Second… it was really cool what you did. I actually can't believe you would go through all of the trouble to do something like that for me, Mordecai."

Mordecai nodded. "I really wanted to do it for you, especially since I know you hate your birthday. So I thought I would do something you might like. I ditched Margaret yesterday to go to the mall to get it." Mordecai's smile faded as time went on. Before saying anything else, there was nothing but a frown left. "It kind of sucks now that I think about it, because I came back to find out that you quit and that you were already gone."

Rigby turned to look at Mordecai to find something so spectacular, and yet so sad. Mordecai, for the first time in years, legitimately had tears rolling down his face. Rigby gasped nearly silently and said, "Mordecai… are you okay?"

Mordecai turned his face away from Rigby, completely embarrassed that he was doing this in front of his best friend. "Y-yeah, Rigby. I… You know what, no. I'm not okay right now. Too much is happening right now and all my best friend wants to do is leave and go back to his stupid coffee shop job with a girl that he doesn't even like."

Rigby turned to face Mordecai again, trying desperately to get his attention. "I know, Mordecai! I was being selfish! But you have to know that none of that is true. If I had even a little of a chance of getting my job back here, I would take it in a second. But we both know that Benson isn't going to give it to me."

Mordecai nodded, wiping away another tear. "Yeah, I get it. I'm being a bit selfish, too. I'm just a bit… mad."

Rigby thought for a second and wondered what to say or even do next. He was afraid that he was going to lose his best friend because of a petty problem that turned into a huge mistake. He sighed and said, "Well… I guess I'll just go then since you probably don't want to see or talk to me for a little bit. We'll sleep on it and… hopefully I'll see you at the coffee shop. I can take my break and hang out with you for a little bit."

Mordecai nodded, finally turning back to face Rigby. "Yeah, dude. That sounds pretty cool."

Rigby stood up and headed for the door. He twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Though when he did, Benson stumbled into the room since he was leaning against the door. Rigby crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, even though he expected Benson to listen in on their little argument.

He stepped to the side of Benson and said, "See ya, Mordecai." He stepped out of the room and went down the stairs. He was about to head out of the front door when he felt a hand on his right shoulder. Rigby turned around to see Benson stopping him.

"I… heard that you would take the job back if I offered it to you. I actually wouldn't mind if you're going to be there for Mordecai like that."

Rigby gave Benson a straight look. "I really appreciate it Benson and I might have to take you up on that offer. But I think both Mordecai and I are going to need some time, maybe a couple of days, until I can start working here again." Rigby paused for a second, continuing the awkward atmosphere. "But you want to know what I want to get at? Why are you being so nice to me?"

Benson rolled his eyes. "Isn't me offering you the job enough?" He sighed. "But if you really want an answer to that, here it comes. Believe it or not, I didn't used to be this hostile with my employees. In fact, when I was in college, I used to hold a policy where I would talk to the people I work with as if we were best friends."

"Seriously?" Rigby said, softening up a bit. "I can't even imagine that."

"Well, it's true. The point is, even though I'm so strict with you and Mordecai, it's because I'm constantly overwhelmed with the stress of running a park almost entirely on my own. Personally, I think that you and Mordecai actually bring adventure and fun to the park, which is why I have yet to fire you for a more than a couple of days. I just… you guys make the park a better place."

Rigby was a bit flabbergasted by the news. He never knew that Benson had such a soft spot for them. "Wow… well thanks, Benson. I actually really wanted to hear that from you."

Benson nodded, a fairly slight smile appearing on his face. "You're welcome. It needed to be said." Benson opened the door for Rigby and said, "I hope the Coffee Shop treats you well for now. Feel free to come back anytime this week to give me your final answer. If not, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to find someone to replace you."

Rigby smiled. "Don't worry, Benson. My mind will be made up by then." Rigby stepped out of the house, a bit of confidence welling up inside of him that everything was going to be okay. Though, there was also a bit of paranoia in his mind as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Hot Coffee

Chapter 5

After leaving the park, Rigby took a long detour and roamed around in the darkness. He wasn't used to seeing the town like this, where the streets were empty and the only lights came from streetlights and from inside stores. Though, he dealt with it since he needed some time to clear his mind of all the things that happened in such a short amount of time.

Rigby was actually a bit frightened by the amount of thoughts that have passed through his mind in the past hour. All the thoughts about working at the coffee shop, about possibly getting his job back at the park, and especially about Mordecai.

Mordecai. 'Forget about the coffee shop and the park,' Rigby thought to himself. 'Who am I kidding? All I'm thinking about is Mordecai.'

That was what was mainly causing Rigby's fear. He hadn't thought this much about a single person ever in his life, even during his friendship with Mordecai throughout high school. But in the midst of all that fear… he felt okay about all of it.

Eventually, Rigby figured that he had been walking around for long enough and decided to head back to Eileen's apartment. Upon arriving there, all of the lights were off and Eileen seemed to be asleep at that point. After all, it was past midnight and they both had work early that morning.

Rigby sighed and took his spot on the couch, putting the picture frame back onto the coffee table. He laid down, putting the covers over his body as warmth returned to him. He turned to his side and simply waited as sleep took over.

7 hours later, Rigby woke up. He stretched his arms and rubbed his stiff eyes of any of his exhaustion before getting off of the couch. Rigby walked into the kitchen where he saw Eileen already making breakfast.

Eileen continued to make the breakfast until she heard Rigby's soft footsteps on her tile flooring. She turned around and tried her best to form a smile. "Hey, Rigby. I'm glad that you made it back to the apartment alright. You seemed really upset when you left, and I was starting to get a bit worried when I didn't see you come back."

Rigby sighed, nodding his head a bit. "I didn't want you to get worried, Eileen. I just… I just had a lot going through my head and I figured going on a long walk would help me out."

Eileen nodded, still trying to keep the smile going. "Yeah, long walks tend to make me feel better. Maybe we can go on a walk together the next time either of us are feeling down."

Rigby sighed, knowing that Eileen only said that so that they could spend more time together, even though Rigby had no romantic feelings for her. He simply shook his head in order to not offend her and said, "No, thanks. I'd rather walk by myself."

"Oh, yeah," Eileen said quietly. "Me, too." Eileen looked back at her breakfast and noticed that it was get slightly burnt on the stove, but that didn't bother her too much. She turned the stove off and brought her attention on Rigby and said, "You should probably get changed into your uniform now. We need to be at work in 45 minutes, remember?"

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, I remember." He grabbed a banana for himself before exiting the room to change into the Coffee Shop's general uniform. Rigby took a few bites into the banana before tossing the peel onto the coffee table next to the picture frame that Mordecai got him.

45 minutes later, Rigby and Eileen headed to the coffee shop and got to work right away. Margaret entered shortly after, greeting the both of them as she took her spot at the cash register. At first, Rigby made every effort not to look at Margaret since he felt somewhat obligated to be mad at her, but then he loosened up a bit. Mordecai made it very clear that he wasn't dating Margaret and even ditched her to go to the mall for his birthday present. He didn't have much of a choice, anyways. He was in no mood to get on anyone's bad side, especially his coworkers.

"Hey Rigby, you've been kind of quiet this whole time," Margaret finally said. Rigby quickly turned to his right to see Margaret with a frown on her face. That frown turned upside down soon after as she said, "The coffee shop is a social environment, remember? Feel free to talk to me, Eileen, and the customers."

Rigby simply nodded in response. "Okay. Thanks for the advice… I guess." Rigby would've socialized with everyone if he really wanted to, but the fact was that he really didn't want to. It didn't matter though since there weren't very many customers, and there wasn't going to be very many for a little bit.

Though, that changed when someone short entered the small coffee shop. Rigby simply stared at the small animal as he slowly walked up to the cash register. It took him a second, but he finally realized who he was and why he was catching his attention.

It was the mole that Eileen dated. Henry.

Rigby quickly dropped off the tray he was carrying onto a counter and ran up to the cash register. "Hey, Margaret. Why don't you take a little break while I take over the cash register for a little while?"

Margaret looked down to Rigby and smiled. "Oh, that's really nice of you." Margaret looked up at the clock and said, "I guess I can use a little break to cool down a bit. I'll be back in ten minutes, okay?"

Rigby nodded, trying his best to get her away from the cash register. "Okay, now go." He took the position behind the counter as the mole finally reached it. Rigby took a deep breath and asked, "Hi, welcome to the Coffee Shop. Can I take your order?"

"Oh, you're a new recruit. Normally the red bird or the mole girl takes my order."

"I'm new at the coffee shop," Rigby said with a sly tone. "Just got hired yesterday."

Henry nodded. "Okay, can I have a regular coffee?"

"Sure thing, Henry. That'll be a dollar fifty."

Henry was about to give Rigby the money, but he quickly retracted it. "Wait… do I know you? How do you know my name?"

Rigby took a step back, knowing he made a bit of a mistake. In the next few seconds, Rigby thought to say, "Don't you recognize me? We see each other here at the coffee shop all the time."

Henry crossed his arms and scowled at Rigby. "Yeah, well that doesn't tell me how you know my name. Are you stalking me?"

Rigby waved his hands in front of him. "No, no, no. I'm not stalking you!" Rigby looked in all directions, making sure that he wasn't making much of a commotion. He then looked down and sighed heavily before saying, "I'm actually really good friends of Eileen's. I live with her now."

Henry stopped for a second and uncrossed his arms, looking in Rigby's direction once again. "Oh, I get it. And I guess Eileen told you all about us."

Rigby nodded. "I really didn't mean to barge in on your personal life," Rigby said innocently, trying not to start anything bad.

Henry shook his head. "No, I'm sure you would've found out sooner or later if you're going to be dating her."

"Wo, wo, wo!" Rigby said slightly loud. He calmed himself down before saying, "I'm not dating Eileen. We're just friends."

"Whatever," Henry said with a slight tone of arrogance. "Can I just get my coffee?" he asked as he handed Rigby the money.

"Sure." Rigby took the money and poured Henry a cup of coffee. Before handing it to him, he asked, "Can I ask you a question, though? Eileen told me you two were really happy together, so why did you end it with her? I mean, she's not the best girl in the world (definitely not super great) but you two were happy, weren't you?"

Henry grabbed the cup of coffee out of Rigby's hand and said, "I think you need to get your facts straight. Eileen broke up with me. We were happy, but I guess a relationship was too much for her to handle."

Rigby eye's widened a bit as he comprehended the information. He didn't like getting involved in other people's business or love life, but the amount of gossip he had been given had made him very curious. "Have a good day, Henry," Rigby simply said, trying to resolve the situation, even though there wasn't much to resolve. "Enjoy your coffee."

"Thank you," Henry replied sympathetically as he went away to sit in his usual spot at the corner of the café.

Rigby simply stared at him for a few moments, feeling kind of sorrowful for him. He also felt slightly confused, wondering why Eileen would give up on something that would make her happy. He was forced to forget about it for a bit since people were piling into the coffee shop for the lunch rush.

He took orders for the next ten minutes until he was able to give the position back to Margaret. Rigby returned to serving people coffee refills. As he did so, he saved Henry for last.

He went up to his table and said, "Hey Henry, would you like a refill?"

Henry paused for a moment before holding up his cup and saying, "Sure." Rigby poured it in and Henry took another sip before putting the cup back down. Rigby was about to walk away, but Henry quickly stopped him. "Can I be honest with you?"

"About what?" Rigby quickly responded as he turned back around.

"About Eileen," Henry said seriously. "We really were happy together for the year that we were together. Then she suddenly says during one of her dates that she doesn't want to see me anymore. She didn't really give me an explanation other than that the relationship was too complicated for her."

"Yeah, I think that's pretty weird, too," Rigby said somewhat sullenly. "To tell you the truth, she told me that you're the one who broke up with her."

"She tells everyone that as far as I'm concerned," Henry said as he looked away for a moment. "I just… I just want to know why she suddenly decided to split up. I don't even care if we get back together or not."

"Well… I know it's not something she wants to talk about, but I might be able to ask her for you," Rigby said sympathetically.

"I don't really know you, so I don't want to push you to do anything that might make you uncomfortable," Henry said as he turned back to face Rigby. "But… if you do and you find something out, I'd be really grateful if you let me know."

"Alright, then." Rigby looked around the coffee shop and noticed that people were staring at him, wondering when he'll get around to giving them their refills. "The place is getting busy so I probably should get back to work before I get fired. I'll talk to you whenever you come back, Henry. Maybe I'll actually have something to tell you."

"Thank you, uh… I actually don't know your name."

"It's Rigby."

"Alright, thank you Rigby," Henry said with a smile and a generous head nod.

"No problem." Rigby went back to work, filling up everyone's empty coffee mug, not even as much as glancing back at Henry. Though, when he finally did, he was already gone. A quick 15-minute cup of coffee. Just like he did every day.

Though, someone else was about to enter the Coffee Shop to get his mind off of Henry. Rigby continued to do his normal rounds until he saw a blue bird enter through the front door. He smiled brightly and said, "Hello, sir. Welcome to the Coffee Shop."

Mordecai went up to Rigby, wrapped his arm around him, and gave him a noogie. "Hey, you better not give me that professional talk crap. We're best friends and you're going to treat me right."

Rigby laughed and tried his best to get out of Mordecai's strong grip. "Okay, fine. Hello, loser. Welcome to the Coffee Shop."

Mordecai let go of Rigby and chuckled. "That's more like it."


	6. Chapter 6

Hot Coffee

Chapter 6

"So… would you like me to get you anything, Mordecai?" Rigby asked as the two calmed down.

"What? No! Not from you. Aren't you supposed to be on your break so we can hang out?" Mordecai asked.

"Well, yeah," Rigby replied, curious about Mordecai's sudden change in tone. "But I was just thinking I would personally bring my buddy a cup of coffee." Rigby chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. "We don't want the girls tampering with your drink, am I right?"

Mordecai rolled his eyes while maintaining his smile. "Yeah, whatever. They make our coffee all the time, dude. Just chill and tell me what Eileen is like when she's not around us."

"Fine," Rigby said, giving into Mordecai's request. He led Mordecai to a table and sat down. He gestured for Margaret to make them both their usual coffees. She nodded and waved to both him and Mordecai before walking off to make their coffee.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" Mordecai asked with a slick tone as he leaned back in his chair. He pointed to Rigby and asked, "Are you and Margaret actually getting along for once?"

Rigby rolled his eyes before crossing his arms. "Yeah, as if. We're just coworkers and we just don't want to get at each other's throats."

"Oh, yeah right," Mordecai said with a smooth laugh.

"What does it matter to you anyways?" Rigby questioned. "Jealous that I'll steal your girlfriend?"

Mordecai's smile faded a bit. "Do you really still think that Margaret and I are still going out? I swear, dude, Margaret and I are ju-…"

Rigby cut Mordecai off and said, "Dude, I'm just messing with you. I actually got it after the 5th time you told me. But you have got to admit to me that you're still interested in her. I mean, you used to bug me about it for a really long time."

Mordecai shook his head. "Nah, man. She's a good friend, but I'm done with her. I guess I don't really want a girlfriend who's only interested in going out with every jerk in town."

"Yeah, I hear ya," Rigby said as he leaned back in his chair. "It's one of the main reasons that I've been single for so long. Chicks are just so weird."

Mordecai smiled and rolled his eyes. "As if. I know you said that there was no romance between you and Eileen, but now you two are living in the same apartment together! There has got to be something there."

Rigby shook his head. "No way, man. I'm in the same boat as you. I tolerate her as a friend and all, but I really don't see us going any further than two "okay" buddies."

"Yeah dude, whatever."

Rigby put down his mug and asked, "Why are you suddenly interested in this romance crap, anyways? You didn't really like it that much before."

Mordecai rubbed the back of his head before saying, "I don't know, dude. I've changed quite a bit since college and the thought of actually being in a legitimate relationship doesn't sound all that bad." Mordecai paused for a second before chuckling. "You must be seriously thinking that I'm the biggest loser on the planet right now."

Rigby shook his head. "Nah dude. I've been friends with you for too long to even think for a second that you're a loser. Mainly because I'm not doing any more with my life than you are and I would be an even bigger loser." Rigby paused for a second. "But yeah, man. We all have to grow up sometime. You shouldn't have to act like a stupid college kid because I do. You do whatever you want."

"Well…" Mordecai started. "You don't give yourself enough credit. A stupid college kid would've never said something like that."

"I guess you're right." Rigby took a sip of his coffee before saying, "So… you really want to find a girl to settle down with?"

Mordecai thought for a second before shrugging. "I don't know, but I guess that feels kind of right."

Rigby smiled. "Then that's good enough for me. I'll be the best man at your wedding, and it'll be the most fun wedding on the planet. I guarantee it."

Mordecai opened his mouth and laughed. "Heheh, yeah-yah." Mordecai looked both ways before continuing, "But…" Mordecai became a tad bit more serious. "Maybe you can be in a different position at the wedding."

Rigby stopped laughing and his smile faded. "Wait… what's that supposed to mean? Do you not want me to be the best man in your wedding?"

"Of course I would want you to be my best man… if I married somebody else."

"Now, what's THAT supposed to mean," Rigby said, legitimately confused about what Mordecai was talking about.

"Don't worry about it, dude. I'm just being dumb." Mordecai stood up and took one last sip of his coffee. "I'm sorry to leave you hanging like this, but Benson said I had to be back at work right away," Mordecai lied.

Rigby was about to say something about the whole wedding debacle, but he decided to drop the topic. He didn't want to get into an argument with Mordecai at his work. Instead, he said in a calm voice, "Oh, alright dude. See ya."

"See ya." Mordecai went to leave before quickly turning around and saying, "Do you think you can stop by the house after work? I, uh, have something to give you."

"Sure, dude. I get off work in a couple of hours."

Mordecai smiled once again before walking out of the coffee shop.

Rigby clutched his head gently, wondering why Mordecai was acting so strangely. He wanted to believe that Mordecai was still adjusting to having to do work without him being there, but with how Mordecai was talking, Rigby knew that there was something else going on.

'What are you hiding?' Rigby whispered to himself.

"Rigby, are you okay?"

Rigby immediately went back into 'reality' and saw that Eileen was standing right next to him. "Oh, hey Eileen. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well, you were holding your head and talking to yourself. I was just wondering if you wanted some Adwil or something if you have a headache."

Rigby stood up and shook his head. "No, I don't have a headache. I was just… thinking about stuff. You know what they say, day-dreaming is good for the brain."

Eileen was pretty gullible, but she could easily tell that Rigby was lying. She didn't pester him about it, though. "Uh, okay. Then… bring these empty cups back to the kitchen and start giving out refills. Some people are getting a bit impatient."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that, Eileen." Rigby did as he was told before going straight back to work. If even Eileen had to tell him to do his job, then Rigby knew that he had to step up his game or else he would have to find work elsewhere.

For the next couple of hours, Rigby continued to work while fighting back thoughts about Mordecai. He honestly thought that Mordecai was going nuts because he was technically working alone with a boss that he didn't really like. But he also thought about what Mordecai could possibly give him when he arrived at the park house. Mordecai already gave him the picture frame, so what is there left to give.

Rigby stood at the cash register with these thoughts for a half hour. It was easy since the lunch rush had ended and only one person had arrived in that half hour.

Rigby was immediately brought away from his thoughts when someone tapped him on the back of his shoulder. He turned around to see that Eileen was trying to get his attention.

"Alright, Rigby. Our shift is over, so we're free to go."

"Oh, okay. Sweet," Rigby suddenly said, glad to be free of his interfering thoughts. Eileen led him out of the store and began walking in the direction of her apartment. Rigby stopped her soon after. "Hey, Eileen. Mordecai asked me to stop by the park house, so I won't be able to walk with you."

"Alright, I'll see you back at the apartment then," Eileen replied, not even hinting at the fact that she was curious about what was going on between Mordecai and Rigby. She normally wouldn't, but they were acting different. She shrugged off the thoughts before walking to her apartment on her own.

Rigby scurried over to the park and ran up to the house. He opened the door and was about to climb up the stairs to Mordecai's room when Benson stopped him.

"So, have you thought about it?"

Rigby shook his head. "Sorry, Benson. I'm going to need another day or two." Rigby rubbed his fur. "But, you should probably count on having me back. Mordecai seems to be going a little bit nuts without me."

Benson naturally put his arms on his hips. "Well, I wouldn't say nuts, but he has been acting differently. But I already told you that, so that's nothing new. Just come and find me when you're ready to come back and I'll prepare you reinstatement papers."

"You got it, Benson." Benson walked off into the kitchen and Rigby continued to head upstairs. He knocked on the door of his old room and waited for Mordecai to open it.

A few moments later, Mordecai opened the door and said, "Hey, dude. Thanks for coming over."

"No problem, dude." Rigby stepped into the bedroom and said, "Even though I like Eileen's couch way better than the stupid trampoline, I still like this room a lot."

Mordecai closed the door and replied, "Yeah, this room's pretty cool."

Rigby sat down on Mordecai's bed before yawning and stretching his arms. "Geez, it's been a long day." Rigby looked up to Mordecai and said, "So… what did you want to give me, anyways? There's not exactly much left to give."

Mordecai shook his head before standing in front of Rigby. "I lied, actually. I really just wanted to talk to you privately about something. This is going to sound really stupid… but I have to get something off my chest and I didn't want to say it in public in front of everyone in the coffee shop."

Rigby stood up on the bed so that he could at least compete with Mordecai's height. "Wow… sounds like something pretty big. Um, okay. What do you have to tell me?"

Mordecai took a deep breath in… and another one… and one more. Rigby almost thought that Mordecai just wanted to do yoga with him, but finally, Mordecai spoke up. "Do you promise not to say anything until I'm done talking?"

Rigby rolled his eyes. "Yes, dude. Just get on with it. You're summing this thing up way high and now I'm getting really anxious."

"Fine," Mordecai with a sigh. "We've been friends for a really long time. A REALLY long time, and I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time but I know you wouldn't accept me for who I am. But if I don't say this now, then I'm going to go crazy."

Mordecai did a long pause and even paced around the room once. Rigby got a bit impatient and said, "I know you don't want me to talk, but seriously, can you just tell me."

Mordecai finally stopped in front of Rigby and quickly said, "The reason that I don't like Margaret… is because I always liked you."

Rigby's mouth opened a tad bit and his eyes froze for a moment. This was the last thing that he expected Mordecai to say. The thoughts flew around in his mind at a million miles a second. However, he wasn't upset. He wasn't angry. In fact, he was actually kind of relieved. He didn't know why, but he didn't seem so stressed out about his thoughts. "You… like me."

"I never liked Margaret… or any girl for that matter. They were just a distraction because I knew you wouldn't feel the same for me." Mordecai turned around and stared at the wall. "You must think I'm totally nuts right now, dude. I wouldn't blame you. I would think that I'm totally nuts, too."

Rigby stayed perfectly still on the bed, but he stood a bit more relaxed than he was before. "Mordecai… turn around."

"Why?"

"Just turn around."

Mordecai hesitated but he finally turned around. Rigby could actually tell that Mordecai was on the verge of tearing up. "What?" Mordecai asked with a somewhat quivering voice.

"Come closer," Rigby said in an even more serious voice.

Mordecai took one step forward so that there were only inches between the two of them.

Rigby put his hand on Mordecai's cheek. Mordecai instinctively flinched, but didn't move away from his friend's touch. Rigby thought back to any movie with a kissing scene and tried to apply it here. He brought Mordecai down a bit and connected his lips to Mordecai's beak. It wasn't the warm, tingling feeling he was hoping for since he was kissing a beak instead of lips. Though, he wasn't stopping. Neither was Mordecai.

After several moments of them in that position, Mordecai finally separated the kiss. He was a bit shocked by what had just happened. He didn't hate it, but he wondered why it happened. "W-what?"

"Listen, Mordecai," Rigby said with a very relaxed smile. "We can't be any more different, but you've always been there for me. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten the job here in the first place. You've managed to keep me out of the dumps for so many year. And I guess… I haven't been able to repay you until now."

"So… you want this to happen, too?" Mordecai asked, a smile slowly coming onto his face.

Rigby nodded. "Yeah, I do. I've had a long time to think about friendship, and I think… this feels good."

Mordecai smiled even brighter and hugged Rigby. "Oh, trust me, dude. I'll be the best boyfriend you've ever had."

Benson took his ear off of the door, turned to Skips, and smiled.

"You don't seem very surprised, Benson," Skips said.

"That's because I already knew that this was going to happen. I didn't know it was going to end this well, but I knew it was going to happen eventually."

"Oh," Skips said as he cocked his head to the side a bit before straightening it again. "And how did you figure that out?"

"Mordecai told me shortly after he started working here," Benson said, feeling a bit proud of himself. "Well… kind of. I might have forced it out of him when he implied that he liked Rigby, but he told me nonetheless." Benson pulled out a set of papers and put them under the slit of the door.

"What were those, Benson?" Skips asked curiously.

"That was Rigby's reinstatement contract. I imagine he will want to come back after that."

Skips couldn't help but smile. "I had no idea that you were such a fan of romance, Benson."

"Well, I guess you learn something new about a person every day," Benson said as he returned Skips' smile. "But that doesn't matter. Rigby is going to come back, and everything will be pretty much back to normal."

"I think things will be better than normal," Skips said.

"I do, too."


End file.
